1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus and a computer program for searching and providing guidance regarding information related to points in the periphery of a reference position.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, vehicles often have a navigation apparatus mounted thereon, which performs vehicle travel guidance so as to enable a driver to easily reach a desired destination. Here, the navigation apparatus is an apparatus capable of detecting a current position of a vehicle using a GPS receiver or the like, obtaining map data corresponding to the current position through a recording medium such as a DVD-ROM and an HDD or a network, and displaying the map data on a liquid crystal monitor. Further, in such a navigation apparatus, in order to perform guidance regarding a point of interest (POI) such as a type, a position and the like of a point (a facility or the like) which exists in the periphery of the current position of the vehicle, icons indicating the points are also drawn on a map image.
For instance, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A2005-10091 (pages 6 to 8, FIG. 4) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A2007-139931 (pages 9 and 10, FIG. 7) disclose a technique for displaying icons indicating positions and types of points (facilities) on a map image displayed on a display in 2D or 3D in which the icons correspond to a positional relationship on the map.